Trump approves firing squad for Nidal Hasan

US President Donald Trump has approved the use of a military firing squad to execute former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas.

The decision was announced by the Pentagon after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution method. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Trump had approved death by an Army firing squad for Hasan, who was convicted of carrying out the attack against US military personnel.

Hasan opened fire at the Fort Hood military base in November 2009. The shooting killed 12 active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman and left dozens of others wounded. Hasan was scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan at the time of the attack.

During the shooting, Hasan shouted an Arabic religious phrase, according to US authorities. He later described the attack as retaliation for American military operations in Muslim-majority countries.

A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. He used a handgun equipped with a laser sight during the attack at a medical facility on the sprawling Texas military installation.

Hasan was shot by police when he was apprehended and was left partially paralysed. He has since been confined to a wheelchair and is now 56 years old.

The decision comes after the US administration expanded the range of execution methods available for federal capital punishment. Firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation were added alongside lethal injection, partly because authorities have faced difficulties obtaining execution drugs and carrying out lethal injections.

The debate over alternative execution methods has intensified following problems with lethal injections in some US states. In Tennessee, an attempt to execute death-row inmate Christa Pike through lethal injection recently failed, leaving her unconscious and requiring hospital treatment.

Military executions are extremely rare in the United States. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence imposed by a military court cannot be carried out without presidential approval.

If Hasan’s execution proceeds, it would be the first US military execution since 1961, according to capital punishment advocates. The 1961 execution was carried out by hanging.

The last known US military execution by firing squad reportedly took place in 1945, when the punishment was carried out by musket fire.

Firing squads remain legally authorised in several US states. South Carolina carried out a firing-squad execution in 2025, marking the first such execution in the United States in 15 years.

The decision has also drawn criticism from opponents of capital punishment, who argue that the state should not have the power to execute prisoners regardless of their crimes.